1. Council Tax Support Scheme Replaces Council Tax Benefit (CTB) from April 2013. funding to be passed to the council with 10% cut leaving a £2.9m gap Pensioners are protected Council required to carry out a public consultation on shape of the scheme. We wrote to 26,000 people and got 2,400 responses All councils to have a local scheme designed and adopted by January 2013. We decide ours at Council on 24 th January

2. Scheme Options We consulted on: reducing current council tax benefit by 18% allowing all 65’s or over minimum council tax support of £100 providing a cash back reduction for good payers of £20 or £30 if on direct debit The main consultation messages: 91% disagreed with the government’s abolition of council tax benefit 74% agreed with the cash back idea 1.8% disagreed with the discount for older people, although at the forums there was a greater level of disagreement for this A significant number were concerned about the cut in council tax benefit “The biggest concern for residents is their ability to cope with the extra charges particularly in the light of all the welfare reform changes that will start from April” source – consultation analysis report

3. Scheme to be agreed at Council Taking into consideration the consultation we intend to: Reduce the reduction to council tax benefit from 18% to 8.5% Retain the £100 older person discount as it is a vulnerable group that we still want to support Retain the cash back but reduce it to £15 Charge extra council tax for some by removing exemptions and discounts for certain empty properties and charging an extra 50% on the council tax for properties that have remained empty for more than 2 years

4. We can help – contact us People will get bills and they shouldn’t just ignore them. If we are contacted early we will try and make weekly arrangements that spread over the whole year There is a cash back There is council tax welfare provision in the Resident Support Scheme

5. Resident Support Scheme We are taking over the part of the social fund that covers crisis loans and Community Care Grants. It is abolished and we can introduce our own scheme We will have: Crisis grants are for people who need help following a crisis event (disaster) that might affect their well being – it is mostly to cover food and heat Community Care Grants are to support vulnerable people to live independently

6. Resident Support - A bigger scheme We will join up the money we get with: money to support people to stay in their housing (for Housing Benefit cases/losses) – Discretionary Housing Payments help for Council Tax – to reduce bills for those paying more as a result of the loss of council tax benefit who face exceptional hardship Cripplegate charitable assistance money – we are working in partnership as a joint team

7. Referral Access Rather than a lengthy application form we are developing a computer system where people can be assisted to claim by one of our referral partners. We will do this through Contact Islington (face to face), CAB, Islington Law Centre, Islington Peoples Rights, Help on Your Doorstep, Disability Action in Islington. We are still looking for voluntary organisations that are able to support people with a referral into the scheme. Please contact me by email if you are interested and we will discuss what that entails and whether it is possible

8. Contact Details ian.adams@islington.gov.uk